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A Security Camera Caught an Employee Beating a Patient. It Took 11 Days for Anyone to Take Action.
https://www.propublica.org/article/illinois-choate-employee-camera-caught-beating-patientA Security Camera Caught an Employee Beating a Patient. It Took 11 Days for Anyone to Take Action.
After our investigation revealed patient abuse at Illinois’ Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center, the facility installed cameras to help. But the footage isn’t monitored unless there’s an allegation of misconduct.
by Beth Hundsdorfer, Capitol News Illinois
May 22, 11 a.m. EDT
Cameras in the common areas of Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center were supposed to make the troubled southern Illinois facility safer for the approximately 200 people with developmental disabilities who live there.
But in mid-February, a camera caught a mental health technician grabbing a patient by the shirt, throwing him to the floor and punching him in the stomach, according to court records.
Although the worker has since been indicted, for 11 days following the incident, the employee continued to work on the same unit without consequence or restriction until an anonymous letter prompted an investigator to go looking for the video. During that time, no one at the facility, including witnesses to the event, reported the abuse, according to public records.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration announced in March the plan to install cameras in the wake of an ongoing news investigation by Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica that unearthed a culture of cruelty, abuse, neglect and cover-ups at Choate. The administration also announced it would move 123 individuals from the facility. So far, 34 Choate residents have moved, mostly to other state-operated developmental centers.
[...]
After our investigation revealed patient abuse at Illinois’ Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center, the facility installed cameras to help. But the footage isn’t monitored unless there’s an allegation of misconduct.
by Beth Hundsdorfer, Capitol News Illinois
May 22, 11 a.m. EDT
Cameras in the common areas of Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center were supposed to make the troubled southern Illinois facility safer for the approximately 200 people with developmental disabilities who live there.
But in mid-February, a camera caught a mental health technician grabbing a patient by the shirt, throwing him to the floor and punching him in the stomach, according to court records.
Although the worker has since been indicted, for 11 days following the incident, the employee continued to work on the same unit without consequence or restriction until an anonymous letter prompted an investigator to go looking for the video. During that time, no one at the facility, including witnesses to the event, reported the abuse, according to public records.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration announced in March the plan to install cameras in the wake of an ongoing news investigation by Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica that unearthed a culture of cruelty, abuse, neglect and cover-ups at Choate. The administration also announced it would move 123 individuals from the facility. So far, 34 Choate residents have moved, mostly to other state-operated developmental centers.
[...]